Chapter 1 formulates a transnational approach to the Korea question and embeds it in the larger historical and theoretical inquiry into modern sovereignty, the crisis of capitalism, and the ...
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Chapter 1 formulates a transnational approach to the Korea question and embeds it in the larger historical and theoretical inquiry into modern sovereignty, the crisis of capitalism, and the temporality of historical change.Less

The Capitalist Unconscious : The Korea Question

Hyun Ok Park

Published in print: 2015-09-08

Chapter 1 formulates a transnational approach to the Korea question and embeds it in the larger historical and theoretical inquiry into modern sovereignty, the crisis of capitalism, and the temporality of historical change.

The unification of North and South Korea is widely considered an unresolved and volatile matter for the global order, but this book argues capital has already unified Korea in a transnational form. ...
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The unification of North and South Korea is widely considered an unresolved and volatile matter for the global order, but this book argues capital has already unified Korea in a transnational form. As Hyun Ok Park demonstrates, rather than territorial integration and family union, the capitalist unconscious drives the current unification, imagining the capitalist integration of the Korean peninsula and the Korean diaspora as a new democratic moment. Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research in South Korea and China, The Capitalist Unconscious shows how the hegemonic democratic politics of the post-Cold War era (reparation, peace, and human rights) have consigned the rights of migrant laborers—protagonists of transnational Korea—to identity politics, constitutionalism, and cosmopolitanism. Park reveals the riveting capitalist logic of these politics, which underpins legal and policy debates, social activism, and media spectacle. While rethinking the historical trajectory of Cold War industrialism and its subsequent liberal path, this book also probes memories of such key events as the North Korean and Chinese revolutions, which are integral to migrants’ reckoning with capitalist allures and communal possibilities. Casting capitalist democracy within an innovative framework of historical repetition, Park elucidates the form and content of the capitalist unconscious at different historical moments and dissolves the modern opposition among socialism, democracy, and dictatorship. The Capitalist Unconscious astutely explores the neoliberal present’s past and introduces a compelling approach to the question of history and contemporaneity.Less

The Capitalist Unconscious : From Korean Unification to Transnational Korea

Hyun Ok Park

Published in print: 2015-09-08

The unification of North and South Korea is widely considered an unresolved and volatile matter for the global order, but this book argues capital has already unified Korea in a transnational form. As Hyun Ok Park demonstrates, rather than territorial integration and family union, the capitalist unconscious drives the current unification, imagining the capitalist integration of the Korean peninsula and the Korean diaspora as a new democratic moment. Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research in South Korea and China, The Capitalist Unconscious shows how the hegemonic democratic politics of the post-Cold War era (reparation, peace, and human rights) have consigned the rights of migrant laborers—protagonists of transnational Korea—to identity politics, constitutionalism, and cosmopolitanism. Park reveals the riveting capitalist logic of these politics, which underpins legal and policy debates, social activism, and media spectacle. While rethinking the historical trajectory of Cold War industrialism and its subsequent liberal path, this book also probes memories of such key events as the North Korean and Chinese revolutions, which are integral to migrants’ reckoning with capitalist allures and communal possibilities. Casting capitalist democracy within an innovative framework of historical repetition, Park elucidates the form and content of the capitalist unconscious at different historical moments and dissolves the modern opposition among socialism, democracy, and dictatorship. The Capitalist Unconscious astutely explores the neoliberal present’s past and introduces a compelling approach to the question of history and contemporaneity.

Economics and Finance, South and East Asia, Development, Growth, and Environmental

This concluding chapter first summarizes some of the key issues facing South Korea on the external front in its engagement with Asia. Second, it focuses on the domestic economy to underscore the ...
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This concluding chapter first summarizes some of the key issues facing South Korea on the external front in its engagement with Asia. Second, it focuses on the domestic economy to underscore the importance of several outstanding and emergent internal challenges that external engagement alone is unlikely to resolve. The after-development phase is challenging but seriously needs engagement. It needs to ensure growth in a soft global economy, address inequality and share prosperity by regulating chaebols, support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and irregular workers, and pursue better income distribution and social welfare, especially for women and the elderly to make it easier for them to enter and remain in the workforce. The chapter ends with an epilogue by briefly examining whether Korea is likely to experience a Japanese type long-term recession and what might be some of the implications of Korean unification on after-development dynamics.Less

What’s next after development? : Some policy directions for Korea

Sang-Woo NamAnthony P. D’Costa

Published in print: 2015-07-01

This concluding chapter first summarizes some of the key issues facing South Korea on the external front in its engagement with Asia. Second, it focuses on the domestic economy to underscore the importance of several outstanding and emergent internal challenges that external engagement alone is unlikely to resolve. The after-development phase is challenging but seriously needs engagement. It needs to ensure growth in a soft global economy, address inequality and share prosperity by regulating chaebols, support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and irregular workers, and pursue better income distribution and social welfare, especially for women and the elderly to make it easier for them to enter and remain in the workforce. The chapter ends with an epilogue by briefly examining whether Korea is likely to experience a Japanese type long-term recession and what might be some of the implications of Korean unification on after-development dynamics.